She Returns
by gabs097
Summary: A childhood friend thought to be dead returns to Mystic Falls after disappearing during the Civil War. At the return of Victoria, Elena couldn't be more angry. Stefan and Damon are shot back to a carefree lifestyle they only had before Elena or Katherine.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_Summer 1850_

"_No Stefan!" exclaimed the young dark-haired ten-year old in the Victorian house's backyard. "You need to climb the tree!"_

_Stefan, the lighter-haired one looked at his brother with pleading eyes. He had always been afraid of heights. "I don't know, Damon… I don't think I want to play anymore."_

_Damon rolled his eyes at his brother and marched towards the big oak ten feet from their actual backyard, perfectly out of their father's view. "Now watch and learn, little brother," he said in a condescending tone. Damon reached the tree and jumped until his hand caught an abnormally shorter branch. He propped himself easily upon it and sat with his feet dangling in the air, his eyes held a gleeful gleam. "See, Stefan? You can do it!" he said excitedly, even though he sometimes grew tired of his brother's shyness and lack of adventure in him._

_Stefan had a grim look in his face and was looking paler than usual; at last he gave up and ran towards his brother. "I'm sorry Damon but I can't do it… I'm afraid."_

_Damon scoffed. "You're not afraid of father," he said._

_Stefan looked confused for a second then looked up at his brother who was looking at him expectantly. "Why would I be afraid of father?" he asked. "He's caring, he teaches us, he feeds us and he—"_

"_He doesn't love us!" yelled Damon, and Stefan swore at that moment he could see tears swelling up in his older brother's eyes._

"_What are you talking about, Damon?" he asked softly. "Of course he loves us… he's our father."_

"_That doesn't prove anything," said Damon defiantly. "Not all parents love their children."_

_Stefan and Damon just sat there not saying anything. Stefan thought of how Damon's attitude had changed since mother's death, he wasn't the same anymore. "This is about mother, right?" he asked standing up on his tiptoes to reach his brother._

"_It's not," snapped Damon but Stefan saw him wipe his eyes with his blouse._

"_Damon Salvatore get down from that tree this instant!" yelled a deep man's voice and when Damon turned to see whom it was he saw his father. The bane of his existence, the big bad wolf, the boogey monster, the skeleton in the closet of Damon's life, the monster under the bed… that was Damon's father, in his opinion._

_He saw his father stand straight as a soldier on the house's back door standing next to a small pudgy man with a young girl with jet black curls that tickled her cheeks; she smiled at him from the door. Damon looked at Stefan anxiously and jumped from the branch landing perfectly on his feet without a scratch._

"_Damon!" Stefan exclaimed at his brother's stunt. "Be careful, you might hurt yourself."_

_Damon shook him off. "Enough rubbish, there's a girl over there and she looks about our age, maybe she will be our friend," said Damon, _still_ with pure innocence in his soul._

_Stefan turned to the direction Damon was pointing at and he in fact did see a girl about their age. They both ran, Damon slightly in the lead, towards their father. They both stood panting a little but when they saw their father they stood up straight and stared at him with respect. Their father did not smile or showed any sign of affection, instead he turned towards the pudgy man at his side._

"_Reverend, thank you for your visit today, this is my son Stefan…" he said proudly and for a second he seemed to forget about his other son: Damon. "And my _other_ son Damon, he said not nearly as proud as he was with Stefan but Damon just shrugged it off, he was used to his father's behavior._

_The reverend looked at both boys with a smile on his face and ruffled their heads. "Such strong looking lads, you've got here. I'm sure they're very nice boys."_

_Stefan and Damon were trained for this kind of occasion and just looked at the man and smiled and said: "Thank you, sir."_

_The reverend laughed like Santa Claus and placed a hand on the girl. Damon couldn't help noticing how shiny and black her hair was and how it curled to her back in onyx ringlets. She had creamy white skin with a tinge of rose and her eyes were a strange icy mint green he had never seen before. She had a scheming smile which she shot at him, and Damon couldn't help blushing a little. "This is my daughter Victoria. She will be your neighbor along with me of course," he said and peals of that joyous laugh filled the air. "I trust you will become good friends," he said taking Stefan by the chin affectionately and giving Damon a warm smile._

_Mr. Salvatore looked at the reverend with a forced smile. "Excuse me, Reverend; I have to check if the mail is here. I'm expecting a very important letter and the mail usually arrives at this hour," he said and retreated into the house with a small nod._

_Damon turned to Victoria who smiled at him broadly revealing two missing teeth in the front. "Hello, my name is Damon Salvatore and this is my brother Stefan Salvatore," he said._

_Victoria smiled at both of them and shook their hand formally. "Well, as you know my name is Victoria Alessandra Bugiardini the third," she said proudly and his father chuckled._

"_Yes, Victoria's grandmother and mother both shared the same name," he said a little sadly and Victoria looked down._

"_I'm so__rry if it's something I said," blurted Damon sheepishly._

_The reverend looked up at him and smiled. "Oh, it's not your fault, m'boy," he said. "It's just that Victoria's mother passed away shortly."_

"_I know the feeling," said Damon who looked at Victoria sympathetically, he knew what losing your mother felt._

"_Our mother passed away too," said Stefan. "It was not much after I was born so I don't remember her well."_

"_She was the best mother ever," whispered Damon and Reverend patted his cheek softly. "I know, lad. I know."_

_Right then Giuseppe Salvatore returned with letters in his hands. He passed them until he saw a royal blue envelope the color of lapis lazuli, his father had many around the house, and he said they were… souvenirs, whatever that meant. He opened the lapis lazuli colored envelope eagerly and took out an amber colored parchment with emerald manuscript. He read the letter quickly, raking through the words and when he finished reading the letter a predatory look flashed across his eyes. He usually got this looks when he got letters like this one or sometimes when he saw things in town… I think certain people seemed different to him… at least that's what he told his sons whenever they asked. _

"_What is it, father?" asked Stefan and Damon couldn't help thinking that if it was him he was asking his father would've slapped him in the face for "insubordination"._

_He glanced at his clearly favorite son and he hesitated. "Nothing to worry about, son. Everything is under control." He gave Reverend a glance which he seemed to understand because he nodded fervently. _

"_We'll be out in a moment, children… er, you can go and… play," said Giuseppe rushing to get inside and out of the children's earshot._

_The adults where out of sight and Victoria was patting her pink, ruffled hoop skirt while she looked at the floor._

"_So, do you want to play Victoria?" asked Stefan and Damon seized his opportunity. "Yeah, we were climbing that tree but Stefan was too scared."_

_Victoria giggled and Stefan glared at Damon while this one smirked. "I wasn't scared! And you heard what father said."_

"_Who cares about father?" asked Damon with a roll of his eyes. "You're such a stick in the mud, Stef," said Damon smiling at Victoria who giggled even more._

_Suddenly Victoria broke the silent. "Well, if you are not afraid Stefan I dare you to climb that tree," she said with a slight Italian accent while she pointed at the oak._

_Damon laughed but Stefan just glared at both of them. "Father said we couldn't climb it," he whined._

"_Technically, he didn't. He just asked me to get off and it was just to meet Reverend and Victoria," he said turning around to walk towards the tree. He took five steps and Victoria lifted her skirts and skipped next to him while Stefan just stood there like a statue._

"_Do you think he'll do it?" she asked genuinely curious as to whereas Stefan would really do the dare._

_Damon just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. You never know with Stefan. Oh, and you talk funny," he said giving her a loop-sided grin that would become his trademark._

_She blushed a little. "Yes, I lived in Italy before I moved here," she said matter-of-factly._

"_Really?" exclaimed Damon. "Our family is of Italian descent, hence the surname Salvatore."_

"_I noticed."_

_Damon looked at her and smiled when a blur whizzed past them in the form of Stefan. He had reached the oak and was jumping trying to reach the low branch. Victoria and Damon ran towards him with eager smiles on their faces._

"_Are you going to do it, Stefan?" asked Victoria, her accent thickening with the excitement in the moment._

_Stefan looked at her and grinned, a grin Damon hadn't seen before. And it made Damon feel… queasy? All Damon knew was it didn't make him feel well but Victoria didn't noticed and only ushered Stefan with her hands. Stefan jumped once and his fingers grasped the old wood. He dangled and trashed from the branch. His face was red because of the heat of the moment. He was about to give up when a voice broke the silent._

"_Go on, Stefan! You can do it! Just prop yourself up… with strength Stefan!" she yelled eagerly wanting Stefan to feel self-accomplishment at climbing the oak by himself._

_Stefan looked at Victoria and smiled. He swung back and forth on the branch and brought his skinny legs up the branch and he was hanging like a sloth from the branch. Victoria burst out laughing but egged him on. He propped himself finally on the branch and sat. When he noticed what he had done he yelled a very proud: "I did it!"_

_Victoria and Damon clapped at Stefan's success and Damon instructed his brother on how to climb up the rest of the tree. When Stefan had reached the second branch in a remarkably fast time Damon was already starting towards the branch to climb it himself. Victoria hung back with a sad face._

"_What's wrong, Victoria? Come on and climb the tree," he said innocently clueless at Victoria's skirt._

_She looked down embarrassed. "I can't, I'm wearing a dress."_

"_Oh," murmured Damon, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks. "Oh, rubbish!" he said switching from embarrassment to carelessness. "If you want to climb the tree you're not going to let a silly skirt prevent you from doing it… right?"_

_Victoria scrunched up her nose. "I guess so," she said a little tentatively. "Oh, alright I will do it!" She bunched up her skirts to her knees and walked towards the oak where Damon sat on the lowest branch and Stefan was making way for the third one. Victoria jumped and her hands grabbed the branch easily, but her skirts fell to her ankles and she glared at them. Sometimes, at times like these, Victoria really hated being a girl. She wanted to play but her father didn't permit her to wear trousers. Right now she wanted to trade her clingy, tight dress for comfortable stretchy boy pants. When she felt her fingers slipping she felt pair of cool hands grab her and pull her up while she gained momentum by stepping up the trunk. In a second she was on the branch with her dress all bunched up her ribs and the metal parts (the dress wasn't like big girls' dresses, she didn't have to wear that big metal hoop thing they passed off as a dress although it did have a small semicircle of metal at the top of the dress that made the fabric form a dome type style) stabbing her stomach and making it really difficult to breathe._

"_Ow! Stupid dress, it's hurting me!" she exclaimed trying to sit straight on the branch._

_Damon held a desperate look. "I'm sorry, I'll help you down."_

_Victoria hated to admit it but if she stayed any longer on that branch the metal was going to penetrate her skin and she was going to die of either internal organ bruises or fatigue. She nodded a silent agreement and she jumped from the branch while Damon slowed down her fall._

_Stefan was already on the fifth branch and Damon was looking down disappointedly at Victoria who was arranging her dress. Damon jumped down and landed clumsily next to Victoria who shrieked at the sudden appearance of the dark-haired boy with the penetrating blue eyes. _Gosh, why am I talking like this?

"_What are you doing?" asked Victoria breathlessly and Damon laughed. "Nothing, I'm just going to play with you… I mean since you can't climb the tree without hurting yourself."_

_Victoria smiled brightly and he returned the smile while he heard a rustle in the leaves. He looked up to see his younger brother with his back to him sitting droopily on a branch._

It would be later in life when he would notice what this had meant to Stefan.

Damon woke up panting from his sleep. He thought about the strange dream and was surprised about it. That incident had happened a hundred and fifty years ago… or something. It had been a while since he had seen Victoria and he didn't want to remember anything that had to do with her.

He sat on his bed and pushed away the white sheets. He stood up and went to take a quick shower. The boarding house's bathroom was rather small but it worked. He put on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. It was summer and unusually hot for Mystic Falls. He would have to work his "magic" to keep the sun from hurting his eyes, plus sunshine… gross. He walked down the hall and stopped next to Stefan's room. He heard murmured voices and decided to use his super hearing.

"Oh, Stefan…," said a bubbly female voice, definitely Elena.

"I'm serious, I'm giving you this gift whether you like it or not!" said Stefan in a laughing tone. Apparently Elena thought Stefan's gift was ridiculous. What gift of Stefan's wasn't? He asked himself. He kept walking when the conversation turned boring and… "romantic", yeah right. Wait, he stopped himself. Elena hadn't "slept over" last night, had she come early in the morning? What time was it? He sonic speed-ran to the kitchen and checked the clock on the wall. One o'clock, it read. He hadn't done anything last night to keep him from sleeping. It was weird of him to even sleep at all, then why had he woken up so late? He remembered the dream and shuddered, he _so_ did not want to think about…

He plopped on the couch near the ash covered fireplace and started playing with the laces of his Doc Martin boots. A few minutes passed and he noticed he was hungry. Sure, he had some left-over blood on the fridge and he was trying to be nice-ish and had tried to kill people less but he was up for some nice, warm, fresh blood… from a young damsel no less. It was more fun this way. He stood up from the couch and grabbed his keys to his Ferrari. He crossed the front lawn and got in his car and drove off until he saw someone suitable… but there was already someone suitable. _No_, he told himself. Elena was with Stefan and he had to accept that, even if he didn't really accept it. It was a bright, irritable, sunny morning and children were playing on the streets, couples were strolling their babies and old people were fanning themselves on their porches and drinking lemonade. _Could this get any stupider?_ He rode down another street filled with stores of all kinds. There were even more people here and Damon was getting strangely claustrophobic. He didn't usually go out in the day much so it was kind of queer for him. _Huh, queer_, he laughed. Down the end of the street where it was more desolate he saw a young girl, about fourteen, with auburn hair and light brown eyes. She had tanned skin but you could tell it was from a vacation and her skin was really paler. She was sitting on a bench under a tree, hunched over a thick book. Perfect.

Yum, that girl had tasted just right. He didn't know what was it about blood but sometimes it was just what he needed to make an annoyingly sunny day into a somber afternoon. After he had finished with the girl he had gone to the cemetery to think. He thought about Elena… a lot. He thought about Katherine… a lot. And he thought about Stefan… weird enough… a lot, too. He thought about how his brother had gotten Katherine even though she hadn't really chosen any of them but had "gotten herself killed" to then return as a crazy ex-girlfriend off to kill the reason of existence of hi— Stefan. He pushed those thoughts away, Katherine was an evil psychopath and Damon didn't love her anymore, Stefan on the other hand…

It was about six in the afternoon and the store street was empty but of teenage couples walking and flirting and kissing and his eyes stopped over a girl looking at a perfume cart on the sidewalk. She had pale skin and dark jet black hair cut into a messy bob that its tips tickled her bare shoulders. She was wearing a blood red (how ironic) peasant blouse that exposed her pale shimmery shoulders. The girl looked up as if feeling his eyes on her and what he saw froze him to the bone. He saw a pair of mint green eyes, a smirky pout and a sense of recognition and understanding in her eyes but in a second she was back to talking to the salesman who was practically drooling over her. She had seen him and he had seen her, but that wasn't the issue… because the last time he saw that face it was on a ten-year old girl visiting his dreams.

Back at the boarding house he found Elena and Stefan talking on the couch in serious tones and when he entered the house and saw them they stopped talking abruptly. They were talking about him. _Well, screw them_, he thought.

"What?" he snapped after they did nothing but stare at him as if he were a stranger that had barged into their house. _Well, sorry to brake it to you but the closest one to a stranger here is Elena_, he thought.

"Where have you been?" asked Elena with her caring voice that held a slight tinge of accusation in it, yet it filled Damon with a tingly feeling in his stomach.

"Nowhere," he said softly and walked to the stairs when Elena's voice interrupted him.

"Damon," she said and her voice held so much care and warmth it was hard to believe she didn't love him back.

He looked down at her; she was standing barely inches away from him. He leaned down towards her and he heard her heart beat faster, which amused him every time. "Excuse me," he said in the softest tone ever and unfortunately for Elena the most seductive one too. She sighed and stepped aside and he flashed her that bright grin that was gone in a second. He walked towards his room and he could (super) hear their preoccupied voices. He didn't want to use his powers too much but he did catch some phrases like:

"Where the hell has he been?"

"Do you think he went to see… you know?"

"Maybe he went to get a… snack?" Oh, he laughed at this one.

"I'm worried, Stefan. Really worried—"

At this one he shut them off. He hated it when people were worried about him or felt pity towards him. He could handle himself perfectly. He had done so for the last hundred and fifty years. And he especially hated Elena being worried for him although it did mean she thought about him, but then again, what girl doesn't? He thought about that for a moment… _Elena_. He checked his alarm clock that he just used as a regular clock and the bright red numbers flashed seven o'clock. God, what was wrong with him? It was a Saturday night at seven and he was at home. Stefan and Elena had probably gone over to the Grill but he tuned into them and felt them downstairs in the living room. He grabbed his leather jacket and walked downstairs, Elena and Stefan were kissing and Damon felt a slight pang but he still didn't miss the opportunity.

"Oh, I was going to invite you guys to the Grill to grab something to eat but I see there's enough eating around here, don't you think?" he said with a mocking grin.

Elena glared at him and returned the sarcastic smile. "Really? Because last time I remembered vampires don't eat human food so I don't know what you would be doing eating chicken wings."

"Oh, believe me… vampires do eat _human_ food," he said winking and leaving a gaping Elena and a sullen Stefan in the living room so they could resume their _eating_.

A rock song was playing in the background and teenagers were either playing billiards or talking. There were three people at the bar: a middle age-ish man with brown hair and a button-down shirt and a stained tie, an over make upped blond lady with a tease and a teenage girl about sixteen in the middle chair. She had really long black curls that ended on the small of her back, sun kissed skin, extremely light blue eyes and the most exquisite pair of ruby lips he had ever laid eyes on. The girls was pretty, and she seemed to know it because when he sat next to her and flashed her one of his knee buckling smiles at her she smiled back in a flirtatious way. But what he felt next shocked him, when he was around humans he felt this warm humming that meant that the creature before him was indeed human. But what the girl put off was just a white noised void that he only got when he was around vampires, witches or werewolves.

He looked at her and she looked back, still wearing that beacon of a smile she had. She flipped her long black hair over her right shoulder. I was sitting on her left and that meant she had left her pale, succulent neck all exposed… in front of a vampire… a vampire whose only weakness was young human girls… then again, this girl definitely did not put off a human vibe. He bore his eyes into her, trying to reach her mind, but again, all he got was a blank void.

"Alright, what are you? What are you doing here? And what do you want?" he blurted out without any embarrassment. He was getting tired of these stupid vampires or any mythical creature popping up in Mystic Falls because what they usually wanted was either revenge on the town, the death of the Salvatore brothers (mostly Damon) or Elena's death, sometimes all three.

The dark-haired girl' eyes narrow and the most conspicuous smirk crept up her lips but she dropped them abruptly for a confused, ditzy one.

"What do you mean?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice that he did not buy.

"You know what I mean, are you here for _her_?" he said putting an emphasis on the "her".

She smiled devilishly but then the smile turned almost genuinely sweet. "Maybe," she said. She got up from the stool grabbed her purse and strutted out of the bar, leaving Damon dumbfounded… and angry.

After the door closed before her Damon stood up quickly and followed her but when he opened the door to the empty street and parking lot he was left staring at the mysterious night that hid the secrets of many. He was determined to find that girl, who she was (more specifically what she was) and who she was after because no one just happens to come to Mystic Falls for no reason… he had learned that multiple times.

He got in his car and drove as fast as he could towards the boarding house and barged in as if the key to the universe was inside it, which it probably was considering Elena was sleeping on the couch, tragically on Stefan's lap.

Stefan looked up at him and he looked rather tired… more like downright exhausted. "What's wrong Damon?" he asked half- tired, half-interested.

Damon looked at him seriously. "I think there's a vampire in town," he said and Stefan threatened to jump at Damon but he suddenly remembered Elena was on top of him and that would have been a frightening awakening.

"What?" he asked breathlessly.

"I met a girl at the Grill. She had black hair, white skin and really soft blue eyes, almost white and really red lips."

"So…" Stefan egged on.

Damon glared at him. "So… she didn't give off any human vibe so I assumed she was a mythical creature, most likely a vampire."

Stefan looked preoccupied and he glanced at Elena who moaned and stirred.

"We'll talk about this in the morning. I don't want to risk her subconscious hearing it and developing into a cryptic nightmare or something," he said patting Elena's head and he couldn't help but stare at her vulnerable state. She was sleeping and the look of peace in her made me want to carry her up to my bedroom and just watch her sleep and then in the morning watch her wake up.

"Damon?" Stefan asked snapping me back to reality.

"Sure Stefan. Whatever you want," he said and Stefan couldn't help thinking he wasn't talking about talking about the vampire in the morning.

_Summer 1855_

_Victoria ran and ran and ran. No way was she going to let Salvatore catch her. Ha, he was going to be surprised that she beat him to it. The wind was messing her curls and it was very hard to run with a full metal hoopskirt and an extremely tight corset. Her emerald green dress was billowing around her ankles. She was running barefooted against the cool, damp afternoon grass._

"_I'm going to get you, Alessandra," said a smiling voice that made her heart flutter a little bit. Obviously and unequivocally, the voice belonged to Damon Salvatore. He was gaining speed. She was faster than him but she wearing the stupid dress with the thousand pound metal hoop skirt was slowing her down. She laughed._

"_In your dreams, Salvatore!"_

_She ran faster turning to the left when she passed the oak tree but when she thought she was going to lose Damon he grabbed her waist as he tackled her and they both fell to the ground. She landed on her back and so did Damon. They were lying on the grass, side-by-side laughing like mental people._

"_Told you I was going to catch you," he said panting from the race._

"_Don't call victory yet, Salvatore," she said turning to her side and propping her head on her left arm. "I want a rematch… without a dress this time."_

_He raised an eyebrow and smirked at me. "I think people would notice if they see me chasing you around the backyard naked."_

_She punched him on the arm. "Very funny, but seriously, I want a rematch, without the metal hoopskirt and this tight corset."_

"_No problem," he said, regaining his strength. Good, he would need it. "Though I'm still going to win."_

"_No you won't, I'll make sure of that," she said with a smirk. She stood up and brushed the grass off her dress. _

"_Keep telling yourself that," said Damon standing up but not bothering to brush the grass from his clothes._

_They stood there smiling at each other and Damon put a hand over Victoria's bony shoulders. If anyone saw them right then they would've turned it into a scandal._

_The dream switched into the same backyard, and same tree, only this time, it was night and the moon was nowhere to be seen. The starts twinkled like tearful eyes. Damon was sitting with his back on the trunk of the old oak plucking the grass around his stretched out legs. Victoria appeared out of nowhere and sat next to him. She was smiling __devilishly whereas he looked rather bashful._

_Victoria's white dress sparkled in the starlight that shone as brightly as the moon. A strand of black hair fell into Victoria's face all the way down to her chin. Damon lifted his hand and tugged at the strand and hid it behind her ear. A faint blush was almost visible against the limited light._

_Damon Salvatore leaned down closer to Victoria Bugiardini, who he now called Alessandra because she hated it._

"_What are you doing, Salvatore?" she asked in the most whispered and softest tone ever._

_His eyes bore into hers and the same blush that crept into her cheeks made Damon's neck heat. "This," he said as her soft lips greeted his in a languishingly awaited kiss._

"_Alessandra!" Damon yelled as he remembered the tragic ending to the innocent, forbidden love story._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Damon woke up panting, again. His bedroom was barely lit by the moon's bluish–white hue. His king sized bed's sheets were tangled around his body. A cold breeze smacked him on the face and he looked up to realize his window was open, the white curtains billowing in the indigo night. He got up from the bed and in the blink of an eye he was at the window. He leaned on the window frame, it was cold. Well, not for him but certainly for a human. Like _Elena_… He couldn't seem to get her off his mind which was something he desperately needed to do if they were going to work out this– so-called by Elena–friendship.

He looked down from his room to the street. Circles of yellow light made a pattern on the charcoal road. The cold air had stopped and it seemed to be still. He yawned; he was getting tired these days, always so sleepy. It wasn't normal. He almost turned around to go to bed when he smelled something. It was a familiar scent, it wasn't of anyone he knew but he had definitely smelled it recently. And then it hit him. Dark-haired girl with the pouty ruby lips and sassy attitude. She was at the Grill and Damon had sensed some "inhumanness" on her. So she wasn't human after all, just some sleazy, conniving night creature probably out to kill Elena. Damon grabbed a shirt from his closet and swapped his pajama pants for a pair of jeans. He ran downstairs, careful not to wake Stefan, and went outside into the night to hunt for the mysterious girl he had seen at the Grill.

He sensed a trail and decided to follow it. What did he have to lose? He walked stealthily on the shadowed side of the sidewalk. Trees lined it and they acted as great camouflage for this hunting vampire. The trail covered the entire Main Street where he had seen the short-haired girl with the mint-green eyes that looked eerily like Victoria's. He ignored his melodramatic thoughts, shifted into hunt mode and focused on the trail that girl (definitely vampire) had left. The trail ended in front of the "tourist" section of the town where the hotels were. A fancy hotel in small, hick-town Mystic Falls, Virginia's standards, emanated golden light from its surrounding gas lamps and ballroom chandeliers. Without thinking twice he walked through the glass doors and entered the hotel. It was kind of a dump compared to the hotels Damon had been inside of but it would do if someone slightly important needed to stay in Mystic Falls, which would be a bad idea for anyone. Not that Damon cared about anyone. The lobby was empty. The front desk was also empty. He looked at the casino and —bingo— it was full of joyous old people, depressed and drunk middle aged adults praying to get lucky and some kids pretending to be cool and grown-up. Idiots, thought Damon.

He sniffed the place but the trail had ended outside. He walked towards the elevator and pressed a random button— seventh floor. The elevator ascended and halted with a clank. The doors opened and he saw long black hair, light blue eyes and a pouty red mouth.

"You came," said the honey voice that now that Damon noticed sounded slightly southern.

As always, Damon showed no emotion, especially surprise: the one he was feeling most at the moment. "Why wouldn't I?" he said stepping out of the elevator and placing a hand on her shoulder, his hands centimeters away from her pulse. But just when Damon lowered his hand she slapped it off and turned around, her wavy long hair swishing on her lower back. She was not an inch smaller than him, almost his height actually. She walked along the carpeted hallway and Damon followed. At the end of the hall, she quickly turned around to face Damon. Taken by surprise, he had kept walking and had bumped into her. Her nose was dangerously close to his face. She stared at those piercing blue eyes of him without making any sound. Damon had a lazy grin on his mouth and a million thoughts and questions crossed his mind. Who was this girl? What was she doing in Mystic Falls? Did she know about Katherine or Elena for that matter? But most importantly: Was she a vampire or something else? This fuzzy, blank void was all she was putting off. No vibrating hum that distinguished her as a silly human, no steady, thumping pulse so deep it sounded like a drum that catalogued her as a werewolf and no cold swishing and fluttering that classified her as a vampire, there was just that wretched blank void of nothing. It was so silent.

"If you were human I'd drink you right now," whispered Damon in her ear but she didn't shiver or tremble like the usual human girl's reaction to his pulchritudinous charm, proving she was some sort of night creature, maybe a witch, although he was betting on vampire.

"Maybe I am human. Why would you say such a thing, Damon Salvatore?" she said licking those glossy red lips of hers.

Damon didn't miss a beat. "I don't know, but what I do know is that I've never met you, which is a tragic situation, but that's beside my point." He stepped closer towards her and rested his hands on the doorframe. "The real point is how do you know my name, hot stuff?"

She smirked. "You can't sweet talk me, Salvatore." The off southern accent he had heard before was as thick as ever on these words.

She placed a hand on the tarnished metal doorknob and Damon gripped her firmly by the shoulder. She made no movement to this but just stopped moving altogether. "Why are you here?" asked Damon one more time with a frightening voice.

She turned her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You'll see, sweet pea."

The doorknob creaked and the door swiveled open, revealing a long and lean pale girl with wispy black hair to her shoulderswearing a blood red peasant blouse that bared her shoulders and neck.

If Damon hadn't been resting himself on the door frame he'd have fainted or something because the girl he had seen before on the perfume cart, the one that had look uncomfortably alike Victoria Bugiardini, was standing ten feet away in a dingy hotel room clutching some silk fabric.

"Victoria?" whispered Damon in a voice no human would have been able to hear.

"It's me, Salvatore," said the mint-green eyed ghost. "Alessandra."

Damon had a small brain shutdown but he quickly recovered himself. Of all the things he thought and all the things he could've said he only mentioned one. "I see you've cut your hair," he said, his voice breaking at the end.

Victoria rushed towards him and in less than a second, literally, she was hugging Damon as tears rolled down her lucid cheeks. "I've missed you so much," she said in between sobs. Then added: "God that sounds so cliché."

Damon and Victoria burst out laughing, hysteria had overcome them and they were half-laughing and half-crying. Damon rubbed Victoria's back while she compulsively tugged at strands of his hair while she silently cried.

After a couple of minutes of just standing there they let go and Damon held Victoria at arm's length, drinking in her sight. He placed both hands on her warm cheeks. Tears pooled on top of Damon's fingers but then spilled over them.

"It's alright, isn't it?" she asked straightening the collar of his shirt.

He smiled at her and nodded. "But… We've got to talk… a lot. You know that, right? You have some explaining to do."

She glanced at the door. The mysterious girl from the Grill was standing there with her arms crossed and her pouty lips in a grim expression. Damon looked at her. Now he knew she was obviously a vampire. Tragically, so was Victoria. Otherwise how could she have lived all these years?

"What's your name?" he spat at her starting towards her but Victoria held his arm and stood between them.

"Hey, it's cool," she said giving Damon a pointed glare. Damon felt a freezing feeling go down his entire body. It was those eyes. The mint green pools of icy pain. "She's my friend, Damon. We met a couple of months after— after I was turned."

Damon turned his glare from the mysterious girl to Alessandra. "You were turned?" asked Damon bringing his hand to Alessandra's cheek.

She nodded slowly and shared a strange look with the girl. Damon ignored it and turned to the girl. "So, what's your name?"

"Natalie Joulihann."

"Care to elaborate?" asked Damon walking around the hotel room.

"Elaborate on what?" she snapped at him, crossing her arms. The faintest of veins were barely noticeable on her face and her almost-white eyes got a darker shade of blue.

"On your species… Look, I'm trying to be polite. I already know you're a vampire but fine, if you want me to be rude that's perfect, actually."

Damon fell on one of the beds and patted the space next to him, winking at Victoria. She glared at him.

"Damon, Natalie is my friend. She has stood by me for a long time… a dark time," she said softly walking towards Damon. She sat crossed-legged on the bed and turned to Natalie. "And Natalie, Damon is also my—friend. You have to learn to like him, or at least pretend to if you want to be my friend."

Natalie glared some more at Damon but her face softened on Victoria's. She ran towards her and hugged her. "I'm your bestest friend ever and I only want what's best for you but…" She let go of Victoria and stared at Damon who grinned mockingly at her. "If he's your—friend then I'll have to put up with him. But the second he lays a finger on you I'm going to kill him."

Victoria smiled and hugged Natalie tightly. "Thanks, really, that's all I'm asking."

"Well, then let's go to the boarding house," said Damon, in a second already at the door. He turned to look at Victoria. "Stefan's gonna freak."

Victoria smiled devilishly at Damon and in less than a second they were gone, leaving a raging Natalie alone in the room.

A knock on the door woke Stefan up from his sleep. Elena was curled up underneath the sheets and did nothing but stir a little. Silently, he got up from the bed and sped to answer the door. It was probably Damon, although it'd be weird of him to knock. Maybe he had a body and needed help hiding it.

He turned the knob slowly and opened the door. Surely, Damon was standing right in front of him with that stupid grin of his that made all the girls in the world melt. But there were others with him. Two girls. Both pale, both dark-haired and both with light colored eyes. Maybe sisters. He looked closer at them and saw that even though they looked pretty alike one of them had very light blue eyes whereas the other one had mint green eyes. Where had he seen those before? They were uncomfortably familiar.

Damon broke the nightly silence. "Good evening, dear brother. I brought visit," he said grandly. He pushed Stefan out of the way and let the girls enter. They both had luggage. Who were these people Damon brought, thought Stefan.

"Um Damon, can I speak with you… alone?" he asked.

Damon turned around and pretended to be offended. "Oh brother, how rude of you, don't you remember this lovely gal?" he asked pointing at the one with short hair.

Stefan racked his brain but no answer came, even though the girl was familiar. "Why this is Victoria Bugiardini."

It took a while for the name to register in Stefan's mind but when he remembered he speed ran towards her and attacked her first with a bear hug. Then with questions on how was she alive, at her answer, who turned her, at her answer, "We need to find out." Typical Stefan. But then suspicion crept in.

"You're not with Katherine are you?" he asked tentatively but at the same time a little accusatorily and slightly designated as if expecting a yes.

Victoria looked confused. "Who's Katherine?" she asked genuinely. "Is she a vampire?"

Damon and Stefan exchanged a look. "Yes… was. Is?"

"We don't really know, you see," intervened Damon with a malicious grin.

Victoria smirked back. "Well, whoever she is, she's not worth racking our brains to find her if she left." Her smile and gaze was hypnotizing.

"Well, as long as she's gone… party time!" suggested Damon plopping on the couch between Stefan and Victoria. Natalie on the other hand, hating being left out walked around the couch and stepped in front of the three of them with her booted feet planted firmly on the floor.

"If you're done reuniting and socializing," she said with fake eagerness. "I'd like to find my room and a shower. I don't know about you but I'm darn beat!"

Victoria smiled apologetically at Damon and Stefan. "Sure thing, Nat," she said pinching her arm. "Where can we sleep?" she asked Stefan. Apparently, he was the most responsible, organized, clear-minded… and cute of the two of them, and Victoria knew considering she had been practically raised with them, Natalie thought.

Stefan stood up and took our luggage upstairs. He was such a gentleman, Natalie thought dazedly, making her trip on Stefan, earning her a shy smile from him and a murmured "sorry". Her stomach flipped like a freshman drooling at all the senior boys. She was so pathetic, she thought cursing herself.

Stefan led them to a room on the top floor. It was pretty big but dusty. In need of a soul, if they had souls. Stefan placed their luggage near the door and told them if they needed anything they were at home here. Natalie smiled at him and flipped her hair flirtatiously. Scoring herself a blushing Stefan and… a scowling Victoria.

"What?" asked Natalie innocently.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" barked Victoria placing her hands on her hips. "Were you flirting with him?"

"Yes, why?" said Natalie defensively. Her long black hair waving down her back. "Jealous much?"

"What? Absolutely n– Can you smell that?" asked Victoria suddenly, forgetting the Stefan incident.

"What are you talking about I can't smell any– Yes, I smell it!"

"It can't be…" said Victoria with a disbelieving frown. "It's…"

"Human," they both whispered at the same time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Elena woke up to see that Stefan was gone. She looked out the window and saw it was still dark. She stretched on the bed and walked out of the room to see a pair of dark haired girls looming in the hallway. She sighed that sigh you take before you're about to scream really, really, really loud but before she knew it, more like saw it, the girls were behind her. One had a cold, thin hand on her mouth, muffling her deranged screams and a pair of also cold hands gripped her own pair behind her back. Elena trashed and squirmed in their grasp but their grip was rock-solid. What did they feed these chicks?, she thought wildly.

"Shut it, girlfriend," said a honey-slick sounding voice with a slight Southern accent, but of the old times, the kind your grandparents from Louisiana speak. "Or you'll end up a pile of disembodied limbs."

Another one of Elena's screeches was muffled by the smaller hand covering her mouth. "What are you doing here?" A husky voice said. The girl to whom the voice belongs sounded as if she had been screaming at a rock concert the night before. The small hand retracted from Elena's mouth and she gulped fresh air.

"I'm Elena G– Wait, I live here! Who are you?" Elena asked trying to turn around and face her capturers but the pair of hands that were restraining her own didn't budge.

The two female voices, the husky one and the Southern drawl hesitated for a second. "You mean… with Stefan and Damon?" asked the raspy-screamed-last-night-at-a-rock-concert one indignantly as if her property had been violated.

"Yes!" Elena yelled. In a second Stefan and Damon were at the scene of crime. Elena was so glad they were here to explain she forgot she was being held that she charged at Stefan, earning her a hard yank from the pair of hands gripping hers.

"What are you doing, Natalie?" exclaimed Stefan yanking Natalie's hands from Elena's. Elena hugged him while Stefan stroked her hair as he glared at Natalie and Victoria.

"You know her?" asked Victoria breaking the awkward momentarily silence.

"She's my girlfriend!" informed Stefan with an exasperated look. Victoria was taken aback. She looked at Natalie who looked like someone had thrown her a cream pie at the face.

"Oh," said Natalie, she looked on the verge of tears. Sensing Natalie's disappointment Elena sent her a steely-ha-ha-in-your-face look that made Victoria bare her fangs. Too bad Elena didn't notice.

"So she's human? But she's your girlfriend? And she lives here?" asked Natalie honestly confused. Stefan gazed at her with a please-don't-go-there look, too late for that, bud. "How can you avoid temptation like that?"

"Um, when you really love someone their blood doesn't really bother you that much," said Stefan with an embarrassed look on his face. "C'mon, Elena, let's go back to bed."

"Sorry," said Victoria hesitantly but Elena shot her an evil look.

"We guess," said Natalie snappily.

Elena and Stefan went back to bed and Damon stood staring at Natalie and Victoria who were still worked up from the almost fight.

"Man, you guys messed up real bad with Stefan and Elena." Damon walked over towards them and put an arm around each of them. "Why don't we go about town and see if there are any snacks for us?"

Natalie froze. "What?"

Damon looked at her annoyed. "We're going to eat. You were about to drink Elena's blood so I figured you wanted to go hunting."

"Humans?" Natalie stole a look at Victoria. This one shrugged.

"No, we're going to eat grass, Natalie. Of course, we're going to eat humans, what else?" Damon turned towards Victoria and this one signaled him to stop speaking. He gave her a curious look and shut up.

"Um… I don't eat humans," whispered Natalie.

Damon looked at her surprised and turned to Victoria. "Really?"

Victoria put on an unashamed face. "Really."

"Oh," began Damon. "You strike me as the kind of monster that scares children in the dark and rips their throat out to indulge in their succulent blood."

"Damon," warned Victoria and he looked down at her. "Stop."

"Sorry," muttered Damon.

Natalie was staring at the floor. "Well, what do you want to eat?" asked Damon. "Bunnies?"

Victoria smacked him inconspicuously on the stomach. "What was that for?" he whispered at her and she gave him a stern glare. He rolled his eyes.

Natalie clenched her jaw. "Whatever, I'm not even hungry," she said as she brushed past them.

Victoria smacked Damon on the arm this time. "Ow!" he exclaimed. "I didn't say anything!"

She sighed and brushed her short black hair out of her mint green eyes. "I'll have to talk to her."

"Wait," said Damon grabbing her by the arm and taking her downstairs. "Why don't _we_ talk? You have some explaining to do."

Victoria plopped down on the sofa as Damon lit up the fireplace. He walked over to the table where he had his whiskey and poured himself a glass and poured Victoria one for herself. He lay down next to her and handed her the glass. "Now talk."

Victoria took the glass and drank a big gulp. Damon chuckled and she nudged him with her toe. "Well, after I left," she began and Damon stiffened. "I escaped from my father's house–"

"You did what?"

"Don't interrupt me, Damon,"

"I left for good, I was tired of life; everything. I still loved him but… I couldn't keep going anymore. Not after what Stefan told me."

He tensed. Of course, he did. He knew what Stefan had told Victoria; a lie. It was all a lie.

"Look, Victoria–"

"I said, don't interrupt me!" She yelled at him, obviously this was a touchy subject for her. Damon shut up. "I left and I was living in the forest… well, actually I stayed in the forest for one day. The next morning, or more likely three day later… I woke up a vampire. I don't even know who turned me. That's what I hate the most. Whoever turned me was a coward. But I'll find him, I'll find him and I'll take revenge of him… even if it's the last thing I do."

"And when did you meet Natalie?" asked Damon tentatively.

Victoria smiled warmly. "She saved me. I guess she smelled me and came to see what was going on. I was in a bad state; I was hungry, tired, anxious… I had no idea what was going on. She had already been turned and she knew the drill. She found me a human to drink. It was the most terrible and most amazing experience in my life. And after that she took me in and since then she became kind of like my sister… She is my sister."

Damon gazed at the fire. "Thanks for telling me this, Victoria but I always–"

Victoria put a hand up to silence Damon. "Don't, Salvatore… The past is the past, and I choose to live in the moment." And with that she disappeared, her scent trailing behind her… bewitching Damon.

"Oh my gosh, Jenna's gonna kill me," said Elena as she rummaged for a protein bar from one of the shelves.

"Relax, Elena," said both Salvatore brothers at the same time and they both looked at each other acidly.

"I can't, Jenna's going to kill me–"

"Not if I kill you first," said Victoria appearing suddenly in front of Elena. This one squealed and jumped five feet in the air.

"You- you scared me, idiot," protested Elena.

"Yeah, that was kind of the point," said Victoria jumping up on the counter. Stefan gave Victoria a stern look.

"What?" she said innocently.

"Victoria…" warned Stefan. "Apologize."

Victoria gaped at Stefan and then blurted out laughing; she stopped when she realized no one else was laughing. She looked at Damon for some support but he just shrugged and grinned amused. He saw Elena gave her a classic bitchy-fucker look. Her gaze dropped on Stefan who was glaring at her.

Victoria smiled and sashayed towards Stefan. "Do you really want me to apologize, Stefan?" she said in his ear.

Stefan smiled but didn't look at her. "Yes, Victoria… I want you to apologize to Elena."

She smiled. "Vampires don't apologize, Stefan. They kill."

Stefan clenched his jaw. "Tag… you're it," whispered Victoria. Everyone heard it except Elena, the clueless human.

Memories flooded Stefan's mind and he actually smiled. In a millisecond three vampires had disappeared and had left Elena alone in the kitchen while they played the meanest game of hide-and-seek. Hide-and-seek with vampire speed is the best game ever.

Elena frowned and left to her house.

Stefan had followed Damon to his room and had caught him. "Tag, you're _it_," he muttered mockingly and Damon went after him but Stefan was also fast and Damon lost him.

Damon searched on the living room, Stefan's room, a dingy closet down the hall, next to the bathroom. He stopped for a second. He tried to sense Stefan but he wasn't in the house. He went outside, to the backyard where if you walked farther enough it led you to a forest. He heard a rustle on the tree next to him and when he looked up he saw one branch move, he smelled Stefan but he was smarter than that. He quickly turned around and caught Victoria. "Tag, you're it, baby." She yanked off Damon's hand from her arm and disappeared leaving a small daisy on Damon's feet. He smiled.

Stefan was running down a field, the grass was so high up it went way past his head. He ran and ran when he smelled Victoria. She wasn't going to catch me, he thought. He evaded her by running west, towards a small brook when he topped himself with Damon. He was a couple of feet away from him and Damon grinned devilishly, he waved at Stefan with a white daisy. Stefan did a 160 degree turn at normal speed and he was about to bolt when Victoria trampled him. She had fallen on top of him and was sitting on his stomach. She leaned down and her black hair tickled his neck. But before she could tag Stefan she leaped towards Damon, knocking him to the ground. She gave him a quick peck and disappeared so fast that when she was gone Damon heard her whisper, "Tag, you're it."

Stefan got up and smiled, he was having fun. The three best friends they were. Damon, Victoria and him, they were truly brothers, the three of them. For a second, he forgot about Elena and felt guilty of almost thinking of forgetting about the world and just having fun with Damon and Victoria. He would never leave Elena; she was the love of his life. But Elena was acting weird this past day. He guessed it was the arrival of the girls. She probably felt jealous because they were beautiful. It was normal, right?

Stefan lost track of Damon and Victoria and left for the house leaving them to catch up on unfinished business if you know what I mean, he thought perverted.

Victoria was running so fast she was sure she was traveling faster than sound. Soon enough she'd create a sonic boom. The daisy thing had worked. Damon knew the field where Stefan was, was full of daisies and he had thought they were going to ambush Stefan. The tables were turned and she had tagged Damon, now he was chasing her through a dark forest, away from the field.

Damon sent a thought to her head. _Just like old times, my good friend._ Victoria ran and swung herself from tree to tree, from branch to branch, like a spider monkey. She was looking down through the thick foliage of the tree. Damon had stopped precisely under the tree and she suspected he knew she was there. She fell and was about to surprise him when her predictions came true. Quickly, he grabbed her waist and slammed her down on the cushiony undergrowth. She kicked him and they were both on the ground.

Damon sat with his back to the tree trunk and Victoria smirked at him. "What? Got tired of losing?"

He looked at her mockingly skeptically. "As I recall, I had slammed you to the ground. That was a fair tagging… Alessandra."

She looked at him fiercely and growled. "You gotta say the words, Salvatore, otherwise it doesn't count."

He smiled and motioned her to come closer. She was such a pathetic girl that she complied and sat next to him. She snuggled closely to him and nestled her head on his shoulder. A breeze caressed them both making them feel not so damned by life.

"This is nice," said Victoria.

"It could've been nicer if you hadn't left," said Damon tersely.

She brushed him off and looked at him sadly and hurt. "You know what Stefan told me," she said defensively.

Damon sighed frustrated. "Exactly, what 'Stefan told you', that proves I can't trust you," he said looking at a pair of red butterflies flutter in the breeze.

Victoria crawled closer to him. "You can trust me now," she said.

He looked at her as if noticing her for the first time. She looked at him with those eyes and he couldn't help himself. It was like watching a little kitty beg you to give him food, except the kitty was a very seductive vampire who wasn't begging, much less for _food_.

She had noticed he had caved and smiled. He grabbed her by the jaw and brought his lips to her, kissing her as if the world might end soon. Her hands traveled across his chest and she suddenly stopped. "The way you play me like a violin," he spat at her smirking as she dug her fangs on his neck.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Damon woke up to the rustle of the wind against leaves. He opened his eyes slightly and found himself underneath the shade of a tree. His neck was tense, as if he hadn't slept well. He sighed. _Victoria_. That little vampire b–… he sighed again. She had tricked him; he had fallen putty in her hands. And no one does that to Damon Salvatore… no one. He got up from under the tree and brushed the dust and leaves from his jeans and jacket. God, he was mad. Right now, he would kill Victoria if he felt like it. But that was the worst part; he didn't want to kill her. In fact he wanted to do the exact opposite. Well, maybe not _exactly_ the opposite. And even though he felt raging mad he channeled his anger towards feeding.

Damon snacked on a helpless damsel in distress who was painting her backyard fence. After that scrumptious feeding he decided to cruise by the boarding house. He parked his black Ferrari on the driveway and barged in the house where Stefan was rummaging through some of his old diaries while Victoria and Natalie were nowhere to be found. That was unexpected, Damon thought.

"Victoria and Natalie left for girl talk this noon," said Stefan not taking his eyes from the old, yellowed diaries.

Damon went to the kitchen and opened the Elena-fridge where Stefan stuffed food for her when she stayed and stuff. He saw a Sun Drop six-pack and he frowned. Damon took the pack out and showed it to Stefan.

"I didn't know Elena liked this," he said questioningly.

Stefan finally looked up. "Oh," he said continuing to read. "They're Victoria's."

Damon raised an eyebrow and put the Sun Drop back inside the refrigerator. He walked to leave but Stefan appeared in front of him. "She told me, you know?" said Stefan, smiling amused.

Damon rolled his eyes. "What could she have possibly told you? Nothing happened."

Stefan grinned. "Yes, other than the fact that she practically drained you of blood, leaving you unconscious! Oh, and by the way, she said your blood tastes weird."

Damon pushed past Stefan and slammed the front door on his face. Stefan smiled as he watched his brother speed towards Victoria.

"I know how you feel, honeybee," said Victoria patting Natalie's hand. "Stefan can be a charmer and many girls have fallen for him bad. Just thank God you didn't meet him whilst his years of rage."

Natalie looked up, her eyes red and filled with tears. "Years of rage?"

Victoria nodded sympathetically. "The years when Stefan first got turned and he was deranged by the blood. He couldn't control himself. He was a monster."

Natalie sniffled. "Yeah, that must've been hard times."

"They were," said Damon appearing out of nowhere behind Victoria's back.

Natalie wiped her eyes quickly but it was too late. "Don't bother, Natalie. You're not the first girl that I've seen crying over Stefan Salvatore."

Natalie clenched her jaw and stared at the street silently.

Victoria turned around to glare at Damon who grinned cynically at Natalie. "Do you mind? This is girl time," said Victoria with the same mocking.

"Well, then it'll have to be girl-and-good-looking-guy time, Victoria, because you have some explaining to do," said Damon dragging a chair from the nearby table in the café where they were hanging.

Victoria brushed Damon's hair out of his eyes and edge closer to him. "What happened, D? Big bad vamp got scared?" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Scared of what?" he asked pretend-confused. "Of your Sun Drop? Because that's what you have to explain."

Victoria stared at him. "Are you freaking serious?"

Damon grinned and turned to Natalie only to find out she had left. He looked inquiringly at Victoria who glared at him. "Thanks a lot, Damon. Now you've angered her!"

Damon stood up following the raging Victoria. "How is this my fault? She's the one that took off!"

Victoria crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Don't play innocent."

Damon looked at Victoria with his puppy dog eyes and Victoria rolled her eyes. Although she also smiled. "What's this about the Sun Drop? Why would you care?"

Damon leaned back on his chair. "I don't. I just wanted to get rid of Natalie."

"Why?" asked Victoria exasperated. "We talked about this! If you're going to be extra rude to her I'll just pack my bags and leave."

Damon looked at her seriously. She glared back and before she knew it he was gone. Victoria sighed and put her head between her hands.

She suddenly felt something. A life force. An incredibly powerful life force. It grew stronger, meaning it was probably getting closer. 

She hated Damon Salvatore. She hated him with all her heart and soul… if she had any of these. She was going to make him pay. He was obnoxious, arrogant, cocky, disrespectful… and Victoria loved him. She could see it when she looked at him, even when she was angry with him her eyes seemed to shine and her whole self seemed to glow. Then again, he also saw some of this in Damon himself. But she could feel he was holding back, as if all this was too good to be true and he couldn't bring himself to trust her. He was right; Victoria was too good for him. He was a jerk and he deserved what he got: pain and rejection.

Natalie found herself at the front door of The Grill and without thinking it twice barged in and sat on a stool in the bar. She compelled the bartender to give her a bottle of beer which she gulped down quickly. She didn't understand Victoria's and Damon's love for extremely strong drinks like whiskey or vodka, those were too much for her taste, she preferred a good old beer. In fact, when she first met Victoria it had been in a party of hers and she had an immense array of drinks. Natalie had asked for the least strong drink she had and Victoria had pulled out a huge bottle of Don Q Crystal rum. Natalie had left without a word.

She sighed and asked the bartender for another bottle when someone passed a hand down her back. She turned around with a glare and saw a middle-aged man with heavy-lidded eyes and a lazy, stupid grin. "Never touch me again," she said, letting a little bit of her vampire show.

Considering the lack of reaction from the man she suspected he was way too drunk to even see properly. The man fell on top of her and put a hand around her shoulders. She pushed him off brusquely but he came back coming. A few people at The Grill had stopped to look and this made Natalie angrier.

"Get off me!" she yelled and the man pulled her out of the stool with a hard yank and squeezed her butt. She slapped him hard and he staggered back messing up a pool game.

The young man that was about to make a shot threw the pool stick angrily on the floor and pushed the man off the billiards table.

"Get away from me, kid," he said with a gravelly voice. He grabbed Natalie on the waist and the man, galvanized by his rude behavior towards Natalie, grabbed his collar and told him to get out unless he wanted trouble.

The man, as drunk as he was, punched the young man hard in the face. The boy looked up with a hand on his nose, blood washing down his mouth, chin and neck.

Something snapped in Natalie and she lunged towards the boy. But instead of attacking him she grabbed him by his arm and dragged him outside. She gave him a push and he stumbled down on the asphalt.

"Don't come back until you've obliterated the smell of your blood unless you want me to kill you!" she yelled and apparently her vampire was showing because the boy's eyes got wide but then a sense of recognition crossed his features.

"You're a vampire," he whispered.

"What?" Natalie blurted.

"I know what you are," he said standing up, his blood and face smeared with that delicious smelling blood of his. "I know all about you…"

"You're c-crazy, you know that?" Natalie said nervously. She'd blown it this time she had really screwed it up this time.

"Don't worry," he said with a surprisingly cute, boy-ish smile. "I won't tell…"

Natalie looked at him doubtfully. He kind of reminded her of someone with those deer-like, brown eyes and charming, sweet smile. But she couldn't seem to put a finger on it.

"Hi," he said walking towards her with his arm extended. "My name's Jeremy."

She shook his hand slowly and let go. "My name's Natalie. Natalie Joulihann,"she said with a flirty smirk.

Victoria looked around for anyone who looked suspicious but didn't see anything too shady besides a teenage boy handing a heavily pierced girl a wad of cash. She tried to feel where this force was coming from but it was still too vague. She got up and went to search for the intruder.

The force led her to the cemetery where it grew stronger, it felt like a throbbing pulse hammering on her head. Whoever this person or vampire or even witch perhaps was they had a lot of power. She tentatively hid behind a tombstone when she heard a girl giggling. She frowned and peeked to look. There was indeed a girl, about sixteen. She was fairly pretty, for a human. She had sleek brown hair and sea blue eyes that contrasted beautifully with her almond colored skin. But there was also a boy. He had messy, sandy-blonde hair, tan skin like that of someone who spent their entire days at the beach, gorgeous hazel eyes and a mischievous grin to match. He was one of those guys girls fell head over heels for. One of those guys who had their first kiss at age ten and drank beer for the first time at thirteen.

She rolled her eyes when his eyes traveled from the girl's eyes to her large chest. This seemed normal enough and Victoria decided to ditch this lovey fest. She froze when she heard the girl gasp in pain. She turned to look and saw the guy nuzzling the girl's neck. She seemed to be struggling but he put his hand on her head and caressed her hair. Her breath began to slow down and she stopped struggling. A tear fell out from her eye and Victoria stood there frozen.

Suddenly, all sense came back to her. This guy was a vampire and he was killing this defenseless girl! She was about to confront this jerk when she stopped. Was she any better than him? Sure, she stopped feeding when she got here. Mostly to not upset Stefan but she hated those wretched blood bags, they were stale and cold and… lifeless.

Before she could act on what the vampire was doing he had already let go of the girl and had wiped his glossy, red mouth. He smirked at her still body on the cold, cemetery ground. He leaned on a tombstone and he turned his head slowly and his eyes met hers. What happened next had happened so fast a human mind wouldn't have been able to grasp it.

She saw him about to lunge at her but in a second she was on top of him, her pale hands surrounding his strong neck. He laughed and she felt the vibration in her bones. In a blink of an eye he had dragged her to the nearest platform where someone's deteriorated body laid inside. She looked up at his hazel eyes and seductive grin.

"You shouldn't have done that, my pretty," he said in a husky voice.

"Don't call me that!"

He smiled. "Fine, should I call you my ugly?" he asked mockingly.

"No!" She threw him off her body but she was too slow and when she was about to stand up he had grabbed her neck and lifted her above ground.

She struggled. "Don't play games with me, sweetheart. They always end up broken."

She frowned and made choking noises. "I'm s-sorry… P-please, stop. Y-you're… h-hurting me," Victoria said whimpering.

His face fell and he dropped her, but not before she kicked him in his stomach. He doubled over and groaned. She walked around him, inspecting every aspect of his cocky self. He wore expensive looking jeans, a white v-neck, Doc Martins and a rugged leather jacket.

_Oh boy_, she thought. _A dead ringer for Damon Salvatore._

"It's not polite to stare," he said straightening up. "And obviously you're big on manners and stuff."

She stopped in front of him and looked him up and down. "What makes you say that?"

He smirked. "C'mon," he said spreading his arms. "You have that look in your face, the look of a prissy, goodie-goodie nineteenth century girl."

She grimaced. "You know nothing about me," she spat at him.

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Sure I don't."

"Well if you know so much about me why don't you tell me?" she asked defensively. People like him brought the nineteenth century in her.

He smiled. "Why don't we get a drink and I'll tell you? I saw a bar near… The Grill?"

"No!" she blurted out. "We can't go there. Too many humans."

He grinned. "So you do want to go talk…"

"Shut up," she said. "Fine, but only because I need to know your intentions."

He raised his eyebrows and gasped mockingly. "I think you can see what my intentions are," he said with a secretive smile.

I shook my head and turned around to head for the town. "Are you coming or what?" I said turning around and in a millisecond he was in front of me. "Good," I said as we walked together.

Elena came to the boarding house after a long day of hanging out with Caroline and Bonnie. It had been nice getting out of the house. The tension between the Salvatore brothers and her plus the new guests had been too suffocating.

She dropped her purse on the couch and plopped down on it and turned on the TV. She settled on watching Oprah. Stefan appeared next to her and she jumped up frightened.

She laughed. "Stefan, you scared me!" She leaned in for a kiss.

Stefan smiled at her. "What?"

"Nothing," he said smiling to himself. "I just love you."

She was about to say 'I love you' back when Damon stormed in.

"I hate Natalie Julihanns with all my withered, cold, black heart!"

Elena rolled her eyes and Stefan chuckled. "You're so melodramatic, Damon," he said standing up and walking towards his brother who was serving himself a glass of whiskey.

Damon glared at Stefan. "I am not," he said and gulped down the entire glass. "She's just so…"

Stefan smiled. "I believe someone's a little bit jealous," he said mockingly.

Damon glared at him and shook his head. "You're so stupid, Stefan," he said matter-of-factly.

"No, I think you're jealous of Natalie because she's stole Victoria from you," he said grinning.

"Natalie hasn't stolen anything from me, okay? She just needs Victoria because she's hurt and she needs girl time and _blah blah blah_!"

Stefan muffled a laugh and Elena stood up to pat Damon on the back. "Look, Damon, I hate to say it but… Stefan is right."

"What do you mean 'I hate to say it'?" asked Stefan offended.

Elena laughed and trailed a finger along his lips. "It's just an expression, Stefan."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "It better be," he said jokingly.

"It is," she said leaning for another kiss.

"Get a room," they heard Damon mutter.

Elena turned to look at him but his eyes were staring at the door with a shocked expression. She followed his gaze and saw Natalie with a boy. He had brown her like hers and big, brown eyes. It was Jeremy.

"Jeremy, what are you doing here?" she asked letting go of Stefan and stomping towards Jeremy.

"Um, nice of you to tell me about Natalie, Elena," he said accusingly.

Elena crossed her arms. "Excuse me but I don't need to explain anything to you."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and shook his head exasperated. "She's a vampire," he protested. "Don't you think that after all that's happened I deserve a heads-up?"

"I found him getting into a fight at The Grill," said Natalie for the first time. "He noticed I was a vampire and I told him about you guys, that's when he told me he was your brother."

"Good to know," she snapped at Natalie.

Elena's face jerked sideways and the mark of a hand began to appear on her cheek. Damon and Stefan shared a look and before Elena could lunge at Natalie Damon had dragged Natalie out of the way and Stefan had carried Elena a few feet away.

"You're gonna pay, Natalie," she spat at her. "You'll find out who's the Salvatore's girl! Let me go, Stefan," she exclaimed but he just dragged her away as she struggled.

"Don't talk to me like that, little girl," Natalie yelled. "I'm older than you and I could snap your neck like a twig, or don't you remember last time?"

"Not a smart move, honey," whispered Damon in her ear.

"Don't tell me what to do!" she yelled at him.

In a flash someone had pushed Damon away and had dragged her to the couch. She was about to fight off when she saw it was Victoria.

"What the hell is going on here?" she exclaimed looking at everyone and frowning a little when her gaze fell on Jeremy.

Natalie saw that Elena had calmed down but Stefan was still gripping her arm as if she were a disobedient little girl.

"Natalie and Elena decided to demonstrate us what a cat-fight is," said Damon like his usual self.

Victoria looked at Natalie reproachfully. "Is that right?"

"Don't patronize me," she muttered.

Victoria sighed and walked over to Stefan and Elena. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again–"

"It better not!" interrupted Elena.

"_Behave_," muttered Stefan sternly and Elena clenched her jaw but said nothing.

Stefan nodded and smiled at Victoria. She smiled back and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I missed you, Stef," she whispered.

"Me too," he mouthed.

Two pairs of hands began clapping simultaneously and stopped abruptly. Natalie looked up to see a guy with dark blonde hair, scheming eyes and a bad-boy smirk standing in the doorway. Apparently he was a vampire because he had not been invited in and had not entered even though the door was wide open.

He was looking at Damon with an amused and suspicious expression and Damon was staring back with the same look.

"Who are _you_?" Natalie asked.

He turned to smile and her breath caught in her throat. _Goodness, he was attractive_, she thought.

"I'm Zac Callas, your worst nightmare."


End file.
